I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
A Great Mercy
Think back on a time when you were shown mercy…
Maybe you owed someone money, but they decided to cancel your debt. Maybe you hurt someone you love, but they gave you another chance. Maybe you made a huge mistake, but you received forgiveness instead of punishment.
In the fifth of the beatitudes, a series of promises Jesus made about God’s Kingdom, Jesus said this:
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
Matthew 5:7 NIV
Because we are imperfect sinners who have all fallen short of God’s standards, we all deserve death. We all deserve punishment. We all deserve to be eternally separated from God.
“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)”
Ephesians 2:4-5 NLT
Jesus is passionate about justice and righteousness while simultaneously fervent about grace and mercy.
That’s why He paid the ultimate price for us—so that we could truly live. That’s why He conquered the grave—to mercifully save our souls. That’s why He sent His Spirit—so that we could also show mercy.
To be clear, grace and mercy, while similar, aren't the same. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve (an unwarranted gift) while mercy is not getting what you do deserve (judgment and wrath).
And while it’s easier said than done, His people are called to be merciful. Even when someone has wronged you. Yes, even when they don’t deserve your kindness. Yes, even when you don’t feel like being merciful.
God has shown us a great mercy. And now? We can extend mercy to others.
A Gift Worth Receiving
After Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for almost four decades, the religious Jews were angry with Him. This may seem strange, because healing is a good thing, but Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath—the day of rest. In the Old Testament, God gave believers a long list of rules to follow in order to stay right with Him, and these rules included honoring the Sabbath.
But in the New Testament, Jesus was sent to change our relationship with the Father. By sacrificing Himself on the cross, He gave us access to a relationship with God—so that long list of rules was no longer needed. Throughout Jesus' life, He shows people the nature of this new relationship. But because it didn’t line up with what the religious establishment believed, they were angry with Him.
In John 5, Jesus justifies these changes through revealing His true authority. By calling God His Father, He shared that He was equal to God. This angered the religious Jews, but it gives us a ...
